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| Writer's
Blog - 10. |
What
does an aspiring writer do in the
holidays?
The obvious answer would be
"write!"
But if that seems a little too difficult
when you're up to your eyes in buying,
wrapping, delivering, cooking, visiting,
recovering or whatever, there is an
alternative: "research".
If you can find some quiet time after
the hubbub of Christmas, steal away and
do some research.
Of course, you can do a lot of research
on the web.
But there are times when you need to
visit a particular place - especially if
that place is to be the setting for one
or more scenes in your book.
That was why, early in the New Year, I
spent a bit of time in Edinburgh,
looking at three particular
locations. One was Holyrood - the
new Scottish Parliament Buildings.
The others were St Giles Cathedral and
the City's Central Library.
The new Parliament Buildings pose a
problem for the writer..
Any Scot visiting them is likely to have
strong opinions about a complex that
went ten times over budget, finally
costing £80 for every man, woman and
child in the country.
But a writer has to put his/her own
personal views aside - or at least
resolve to express them subtly and in a
way that advances the story. S/he
has to think of the plot, the
characters, the scene that s/he is
planning and the role of the setting in
that scene.
St Giles was fascinating.
It is so old, so full of references to
ancient blood-letting that it seems an
ideal place to host some of the action
in a modern "tartan noir"
novel.
But perhaps the most enjoyable visit was
to the Central Libraries.
Here I was acting out something that my
central character will do in the book:
trawl through the archives of The
Scotsman newspaper for the year
1969.
Of course, I was also revisiting my own
past. Just to jog your own memory,
here are a few things that were going on
in December, 1969:
Gang fights in Easterhouse in Glasgow;
The introduction of all-numeral
telephone numbers in major UK cities;
The abolition of capital punishment in
the UK (it had been suspended for a time
before it was abolished under the Labour
government);
The appearance of Charles Manson in
court, following the murder of Sharon
Tate.
The Scotsman's sports pages were
great fun.
First of all, it was a surprise to be
reminded that, back in those days when
rugby was amateur, team details always
listed the players initials as
well as their surnames - so it was C. F.
Blaikie, P. C. Brown and so on.
But the best part was to read again
reports written by the great John
Rafferty. His work tended to be
vivid, to stick in your mind. He didn't
write in smooth clichés that left no
impression on the reader. He wrote
with a generous spirit using words that
often had a jolting freshness.
"Sadly missed".
©
David Gray
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